NWF State men to face NJCAA's top seed

Wednesday

Following one of the greatest wins of his career, Northwest Florida State College head coach Steve Forbes expected more of a reaction.

Following one of the greatest wins of his career, Northwest Florida State College head coach Steve Forbes expected more of a reaction.

Instead, the veteran head coach was surprised at what he saw when in walked into the winning locker room after the Raiders came back from 20 points down in the final four minutes to earn a thrilling 88-87 win over New Mexico JC on Tuesday at the NJCAA National tournament.

“That was the quietest locker room I’ve ever seen,” said Forbes, whose team improved to 28-3 after pulling off one of the greatest come-backs in tournament history. “Not one guy was celebrating in there. That tells me that even though we were down big, we expected to win that game. That’s why I’m not worried about this team getting too high after a win like that, because they took it in stride.”

That even-keel mentality could be a plus for the Raiders going forward, because after a day off on Wednesday, the grind toward a possible national championship resumes today. And the road gets no easier.

At noon today, Northwest Florida State will take on No. 1 overall seed Iowa Western (32-2) at the Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas, in the NJCAA National quarterfinal. With a win, the Raiders could move one step closer to reaching the national title game for the second consecutive year.

“We came to win it, not to finish third or fourth,” said Forbes. “That’s what these guys expect, and anything less will be disappointing. I like where our team’s mindset is right now.”

While the Raiders enter today’s meeting with plenty of momentum, Iowa Western enters as the tournament’s top seed. The Reivers, who average 84 points per game, haven’t lost since Feb. 9, and both of their losses this season came to No. 3 Indian Hills.

“They play in a very tough region, and they’ve got a coach (Jim Morris) who has been there a long time,” said Forbes. “This is probably the best offensive team we’ve played this season and they can really shoot the basketball.” Iowa Western employs a balanced attack offensively and boasts six players averaging in double figures, led by guard Devin Brooks and his 15.5 points per game. To Forbes, the Reivers are similar to New Mexico JC, which gave the Raiders fits for 36 minutes on Tuesday.

“Up until the last four minutes of that game, we were getting whipped,” said Forbes. “We turned it around, but we’ve got to do a better job of getting off to a good start. We can’t keep digging ourselves these holes. I think Iowa Western offensively is a lot like New Mexico, in that both teams have very good guard play. New Mexico’s guards gave us trouble, so we definitely have that on our mind going into tomorrow.”

For NWF State, forward Elgin Cook has turned in a star-making performance in this week’s tournament. Cook scored a game-high 25 in the tournament-opening win over USC-Salkehatchie on Monday, then added 23 more in the comeback win over NMJC.

NWF State and Iowa Western tip off at noon.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.